Geo: 31.7917, -7.09262After a good night's rest we left Fez at 7-30 for a very long day's drive to take us to the magical destination of Marrakesh.Our first stop was at the town of Ifrane. This is like a Swiss village. Most of the buildings were built by the French and it was a summer retreat for the rich residents of Fez. It still is a summer holiday destination. We strolled around the town. In a souvenir shop we found an onyx elephant to add to Fletcher's collection. We then stopped at the statue of a lion which is a symbol for the town. The most fascinating sights here were the stork nests. These were prolific on any high point including chimneys and Communication towers.We saw the tiny heads of young storks peeping above the nests ... read more

Geo: 35.7728, -5.8235It was 8am when we left our hotel in Granada and set out for the ferry to take us over to Morocco. Another clear day with a promise of warmth in the air. We drove south through a rich agricultural landscape and then we began to climb up into the mountains.We stopped at a roadside service place for a break and then onwards and upwards. We were heading for Ronda where we were to have lunch. As we drove we found we were but one of a number of tourist buses all seemingly heading for the same destination. Poor Lucy was most disconcerted. She couldn't understand why there were so many, especially this early in the season.When we arrived into Ronda the consternation grew as the parking area for the buses was full and ... read more

Geo: 39.4702, -0.376804We left Barcelona at 8am to drive south towards Valencia. We drove along the coast for much of the first part of the trip and it was a scenic drive with the ocean to one side and countryside dotted with farms etc to the other. We had a stop for a drink and toilets at a roadside complex much like others along freeways in Europe. The bus is equipped with WiFi which is handy for checking on footy scores etc and as there are only 20 of us there is plenty of room to spread out and have a double seat each if we want to.Along the way we stopped at a Roman aqueduct, the Pont de Diable, not as large as the Pont de Gard but srill intact and commanding over the countryside.We ... read more

Geo: 41.3879, 2.16992For this trip we returned to Bunnik's Tours which had served us well when we went to South America. We booked the land content with them and Claire at Top Deck Travel got us some cheaper flights with Qatar Airways.So on Easter Monday night, April 17th we left Adelaide on a direct flight to Doha where we changed planes and connected to Barcelona. In all it was 20 hours in the air with an hour's break in the middle. My back didn't enjoy all that sitting!At Barcelona there was a horrendous queue to go through passport control and then we met up with our tour Director, Lucy and several others of the group. There are twenty of us all up and all seem to be about our age and very pleasant. We were then ... read more

Geo: 28.6137, 77.1834Monday night we decided to abandon the buffet as we had had enough and try the Mughal Restaurant at the hotel. We had drinks in the bar first with our fellow travellers and then about 8pm went into the elegantly decorated dining room. There was a traditional singer accompanied by a drummer and keyboard player for entertainment. The restaurant had three menus to choose from; an Indian, a Continental and a Chinese. We opted for the Continental though Fletcher did have an entree of Salt and Pepper prawns from the Chinese. I decided to have creme of chicken soup followed by a Tenderloin steak which Fletcher chose as well. There is so little meat in the buffet offerings. The fun came when ordering wine.From the wine list Fletcher chose a Pouilly-Fume from France. The ... read more